What motivates you? Is it some particular activity you enjoy? Is it a particular purpose? All of us have motives that drive us, but I wonder how many of us have examined our own motives or the motives of others.

Let me give you an example. There is a religious group that continually condemns racism. On the exterior that looks positive. However, because the group is predominately of one minority, the motive of that condemnation is to get more members and to keep the members it already has. In fact, in that particular religious group the leadership has condemned other ethnic groups in a kind of reverse racism. Motives are not always easy to discern.

What is important is to try to keep our own motives and purposes pure. Only with God’s help, the Bible and the Holy Spirit can we begin to face our own flaws and overcome them. Motives matter because God judges the heart and why we do what we do not just outward performance.

Don’t you just wish there was always someone who always shows up just in the nick of time? Well, there is someone who promises “never to leave or forsake us”. Of course, that someone is God for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. However, God is not some genie in a bottle who comes when we call but has purposes and plans often beyond our own. The process of flowing with God’s purposes and plans becomes much easier the more we conform our lives into what the Bible says we need to become. As we meditate on the Word of God, we are transformed by “the renewing our minds”.

Many of us spend too much time focusing on our weaknesses rather than playing to our strengths. I am not suggesting that we totally ignore the areas where we are prone to falter or fall. We certainly need to keep ourselves covered in prayer in those areas and continue to pray “Lead us not into temptation” and “Deliver us from evil”. What I am suggesting is that our God-given gifting, our talents, should consume the majority of our time and energy. Developing our strengths to their maximum potential will do more to expand God’s kingdom than any other activity. We were created for a purpose, and as one well-known missionary from history said, “I feel God’s pleasure when I run.” Do you feel God’s pleasure when you run the race God created you to run? I am not saying everything we are called to do is enjoyable. Some tasks can be tough to accomplish, but we can count on God to give us the grace to perform them. However, if we are finding little or no pleasure in our work, perhaps, it is time to set new priorities and bring our lives into alignment for our assignment.